CHAPTER 327: SIMULATION (8)

Nathan smiled with visible relief.

Elara’s shoulders eased, her eyes warming with something Merlin wasn’t ready to name.

Liliana wiped her eyes. Adrian clapped Merlin’s back hard enough to nearly knock the air out of him. Ethan muttered something about stress-induced ulcers. Sera looked reassured. Dorian continued watching him—but now with acceptance layered over suspicion.

For the first time since entering this world, Merlin felt the threat of loneliness loosen its grip.

But peace didn’t have a chance to settle.

Because just as they started walking again, a small, black envelope slipped out of Merlin’s sleeve—he hadn’t even realized it was there—and fluttered to the floor.

Nathan blinked. "What’s that?"

Merlin froze.

His blood went cold.

Elara knelt, picking it up before he could reach.

The seal was a dark symbol—one Merlin recognized instantly, dread twisting in his gut.

The Umbershade insignia.

Elara’s voice dropped to a whisper, and the others leaned in as she carefully opened the envelope.

Inside was a single slip of paper.

Six words.

Handwritten in jagged ink.

WE SAW WHAT YOU CAN DO.

WE’LL COME FOR YOU AGAIN.

The hallway fell silent.

Completely, utterly silent.

Merlin felt the world tilt.

Because the Cabal had never targeted him in the original story.

They weren’t supposed to know he existed.

But now they did.

And they weren’t done.

For a long, suffocating moment, no one spoke.

The envelope dangled loosely between Elara’s fingers, the black seal glistening faintly in the corridor light. The paper inside felt colder than it had any right to be—like ink drawn from the bottom of a well kept far underground.

Merlin didn’t breathe.

Couldn’t.

Everything in him locked into place, every instinct screaming to grab the letter, burn it, deny it existed, anything to stop the others from looking at him the way he feared they would.

But they weren’t looking at him with suspicion.

They were looking with something far worse—

fear.

Not of him.

For him.

Elara was the first to move, stepping closer until she stood directly in front of Merlin. She held the letter up, her voice steady but trembling at the edges. "This wasn’t here before. They put it on you somehow."

Nathan’s hand tightened around his dagger. "I’ll kill them."

It wasn’t a threat. It was a promise. Raw, violent, protective.

Adrian’s expression hardened, the cheerful soldier disappearing behind a trained sharpness. "How the hell did they breach the academy wards? That shouldn’t be possible."

Sera’s eyes swept the corridor ceiling, her frost armor flaring faintly. "This is coordinated. Too coordinated."

Ethan, who was usually the sarcastic one, actually looked rattled for once. "We’re dealing with people who tamper with advanced illusions and corrupt mana arrays. They walked into our training simulation like it was nothing."

Liliana whispered, "And now they’re leaving messages... directly for Merlin?"

Dorian stepped forward, taking the letter from Elara carefully. He held it with a shadow-wrapped glove, his expression unreadable. "This isn’t just a threat. It’s a marker. A claim."

Those words made Merlin’s pulse slam against his ribs.

He knew that.

He remembered that detail from the novel.

The Umbershade Cabal never threatened twice.

Their first message was always a warning.

Their second was blood.

But this wasn’t supposed to involve him.

This wasn’t supposed to happen until much later.

This wasn’t—

Elara touched his forearm.

A tiny gesture, gentle, grounding, deliberate.

"Merlin," she said softly. "Look at me."

He did.

Her expression wasn’t panicked. Or angry. Or confused.

It was something far more dangerous.

Resolute.

"We’re not letting them touch you," she said. "Not today. Not ever. Whoever they are, however many of them there are—we’ll fight them."

Nathan nodded sharply. "Damn right we will. They want you?" He stepped between Merlin and the open hallway like a human wall. "They go through us."

Adrian swung his axe onto his shoulder. "I like our odds."

Sera’s eyes narrowed. "The Cabal operates from the shadows. So we drag them into the light."

Ethan exhaled. "If you die, Merlin, we all fail half our classes. So no thanks."

Liliana forced a small, shaky smile. "We’re staying with you. You saved us. We save you."

Dorian didn’t speak.

He stepped behind Merlin—subtle, silent—and took up position like a shadow meant solely to protect.

And for the first time since the letter fell, Merlin felt something other than dread.

He felt...

the weight of them.

All of them.

Standing with him—

not as characters following a script

not as pieces of a story remembered from another life

but as people who had chosen him.

He managed to speak, finally, though his voice was low.

"You shouldn’t get involved. They’re—"

"We already are," Nathan cut in. "Too late."

Elara didn’t look away from him. "You’re not alone. Stop trying to pretend you are."

Something cracked inside Merlin, small and painful and strangely warm.

But before he could respond—

A heavy footstep echoed down the hall.

The group instantly shifted into defensive positions.

Kessler emerged from the far end of the corridor, expression unreadable, jaw set like carved stone. His eyes swept over the students, pausing just long enough on the letter in Dorian’s hand to show he recognized it.

Then those eyes locked onto Merlin.

"Everhart."

The way he said the name carried weight—far more than usual.

Merlin straightened. "Instructor."

Kessler approached slowly, stopping only when he stood directly in front of Merlin. His gaze dipped to the letter once more.

"Come with me."

Elara stepped forward instantly. "He’s not going alone."

Kessler didn’t soften or bristle—he simply looked at her with a stillness that could crush steel.

"You misunderstand," he said. "All of you are coming."

The group exchanged quick glances, confusion sparking.

Nathan narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

Kessler lifted a hand.

The air behind him cracked open with visible ward-lines—

a doorway made entirely of defensive magic.

Through it, Merlin saw multiple instructors waiting.

The headmaster.

Dean Rythorn.

And three elite wardmasters.

This wasn’t a debrief.

This was an emergency.

Because of him.

Kessler’s eyes returned to Merlin.

"The academy has been breached," he said. "And you, Everhart—"

his voice dropped a register, dark and grave,

"—have just become the central target of a hostile organization."